


A Cure for Loneliness

by Lafeae



Series: Domestic Fluff Fics [1]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:09:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23521342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lafeae/pseuds/Lafeae
Summary: Absence makes the heart grow fonder they say.Or, Kaiba comes home and realises that he and Joey missed each other more than they thought.
Relationships: Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler/Kaiba Seto
Series: Domestic Fluff Fics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1693936
Comments: 14
Kudos: 109





	A Cure for Loneliness

**Author's Note:**

> Wanted some fluff. Have some fluff

Bad weather delayed Kaiba’s flight home by an hour; it wasn’t heartbreaking. It was hardly noticeable, but it meant that it was dark by the time the car pulled up to the manor. Light drizzle hung in the air, still, as if frozen in time. 

It was almost winter. Joey would demand to go ice-skating again, even though he was terrible at it. 

An umbrella snapped open over Kaiba’s head when he emerged from the car. He took it from Roland. “Is Joseph home?” he asked, taking note that most of the manor was dim, almost ghostly. “I don’t see his car. He said he wasn’t busy tonight, but he’s not out here jumping me.” 

“I don’t know where he is. It’s late,” Roland said. “He might’ve already gone to bed.” 

Checking his watch, Kaiba was suddenly regretting that hour delay. 

Trekking into the manor, he kicked off his shoes and shook the umbrella out before leaning it against the wall. Nothing had changed. The manor never changed, it just stood dark and looming, even when it was daylight. It was gothic, and sometimes he hated it. He hated hearing his footsteps clatter through it. He hated that the ceilings were too tall and that the paintings watched him. He especially hated how it ate light, because if he wasn’t paying attention, he wouldn’t have noticed the dim glow from the dining room when he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. 

Around the corner, Joey sat at the dining room table. He bobbed to the silent music in his earbuds and counted something on his fingers before scribbling in a notebook. A set-up of notebooks, textbooks, a laptop, and notes had exploded over the entire surface in front of him. 

It wasn’t something Kaiba ever thought he’d see: Joey studying. He hadn’t taken it seriously in high school. The fact that he graduated was a miracle, and he hadn’t been keen on going to college originally. Now, he had a bug up his butt, and he dove head-first into his studies. Whenever he had downtime, he pulled out notecards or scrolled through a worksheet on his phone. Kaiba didn’t protest, even if it was cutting into what little alone time they had. 

Kaiba knocked on the wall. Joey didn’t flinch. Instead, he frantically pecked away at his computer. 

Another knock. 

Joey rested his cheek in his palm and rolled his shoulders. His tongue poked out of corner of his mouth. Adorable. He was concentrating. Briefly, Kaiba thought he was purposefully being ignored. 

Another minute passed, and Joey stretched out until his midriff was exposed. Panicked, his eyes went as wide as saucers, and he tugged the earbuds out. “How long ya been standin’ there?” 

“About four or five minutes.” 

“Why?” Joey asked. 

“I had to watch you.” 

“Watch me what? I’m jus’ doin’ a bit of homework.” Joey shut the laptop and rubbed his eyes. They were red and splotchy. “It’s actually later than I thought. Weren’t ya s’pose to be home a while ago?” 

Kaiba rounded the table and sat beside Joey. “My flight was delayed. I texted you about it.” 

Joey thumbed through his messages, his mouth forming an ‘o’. “I musta not seen it.” 

“Clearly. I wonder why I bother.” Kaiba uncapped the water bottle, and Joey promptly stole it. “I was going to drink that, you know.” 

“I’m jus’ takin’ a sip.”

Rolling his eyes, Kaiba took it back in time that Joey had sucked down half the bottle. The blond wiped his mouth on his wrist and shook his head before opening the laptop again. 

“You’re not done?” 

“I dunno. I prolly can be, but we got this oral exam thing on Tuesday. I wanna make sure the speech is right, but I can’t get the squiggly lines to go away,” he said, waving his cursor over the different underlined words in his word processor. “How’d the conference go? Ya didn’t really seem to want to talk about it.” 

“It went.” 

“That good, huh?” 

Kaiba shrugged. “Nothing of note came from it. And even if it did, you’d be asleep before I finished explaining why it was a complete waste of KaibaCorp’s time.” 

But Joey had already laid his head on his notebook. He began to snoring obnoxiously loud—and incredibly fake—as possible, making his whole body convulse as he did. One honey eye opened and peered around before closing again. 

“Can’t hear ya. Asleep.”

“And he sleep talks. No wonder I slept so well this last week,” Kaiba said, sipping the water. “I didn’t have to lay next to lawn mower.” 

“Hey now!” 

“‘Hey now’ what?” 

Joey jumped up and stared Kaiba down intensely. They sat in stand-off for as long as it took for Joey to fall forward and plant his forehead on Kaiba’s shoulder. “I missed ya, ya jerk.”

“I missed you, too, Joseph.”

Joey hugged Kaiba’s arm and scooted his chair over until the they were sidled beside one another. “I hate it when ya leave. It gets so weird in here. Pretty sure I start seein’ ghosts comin’ outta the paintings when I’m headin’ up to bed.” 

“Are you sure you’re not going crazy?” 

“I might be.” 

Kaiba sighed. “I’ll call a doctor in the morning, then.” 

A sharp elbow stung Kaiba in the ribs. “I think I know what’ll make me better,” Joey said, propping his chin on Kaiba’s shoulder. 

“And what’s that?” 

“Guess.” Joey’s smile widened, and he raised a brow. It wasn’t like Kaiba had suddenly forgotten what kind of games they played. Some of Joey’s ridiculousness had rubbed off on him, unfortunately. It was probably why he thought the paintings watched him. Joey had convinced him they were living one too many times. 

“I don’t know,” Kaiba said, coy. 

“C’mon Seto, guess.” 

“I’m too tired for this,” he said, feigning annoyance. “But I’m sure you’re going to tell me.” 

“Kiss me, dammit.” 

They were close enough as it was. It didn’t take much for Kaiba to crane his neck and plant a kiss on Joey’s lips. And he lingered. He missed it, and he wasn’t willing to give impatient kisses. He drank it in; the spices smell of Joey’s shampoo and the sweet flavour of his tongue. When they parted, Joey slumped against Kaiba, exhausted. 

Kaiba exhaled, content. “Come on. It’s time for bed.” 

“No. M’alright. I’m almost done,” Joey insisted, weakly raising himself off of Kaiba. He turned back to his notes and shifted through them. “I’ve gotta get this done first, then I’ll be up.” 

And for as much as Joey’s silliness has rubbed off on Kaiba, he realised that some of his diligence had rubbed off on Joey. Something in Kaiba prickled with pride, and he felt his ears grow hot. Pulling on Joey’s sleeve, he said, “It’ll be there in the morning. I need you in bed.” 

“Need? I thought you were tired.” 

Kaiba shrugged and sauntered towards the foyer. As much as he hated his own footsteps, he enjoyed the thudding of Joey’s heel heavy jog coming up behind him. And he gave chase. 

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this as a challenge to myself. It was done in an hour and lightly edited. I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
